San Carlo Borromeo a Fonte Laurentina is a 21st century parish church at Via Edoardo Amaldi 215, in the suburb of Fonte Laurentina in the Castel di Leva district. This is south-east of the junction between Via Laurentina and the Circonvallazione Meridionale of the Grande Raccordo Anulare.
The dedication is to St Charles Borromeo.
History[]
The parish was established in 2000, and was initially administered by the Oblati Figli della Madonna del Divino Amore, a congregation local to Rome which is based at the shrine of Santuario della Madonna del Divino Amore. Since the opening of the new church, they have been assisted by diocesan clergy.
The parish initially worshipped in an apartment block at Via Pia Nalli 161. Construction of a new church building, on its own site, was completed in 2010. The firm responsible was Monestiroli Architetti Associati, based in Milan.
The locality is a developing suburban area. At present, the parish supports three dependent chapels: San Leopoldo Mandic (actually a dependent temporary church) in Vallerano, Santa Teresa del Bambin Gesù a Casal Fattoria (a storefront chapel) and Madonna del Rosario a Via Laurentina in Valleranello. The intention is for San Leopoldo to become a parish with its own permanent church.
Exterior[]
The edifice is on a rectangular plan, and is shaped like a box with a flat roof. The walls are blank, in honey-coloured limestone ashlar.
The entrance is a wide rectangular portal, into which two vertical slabs in the same stone are inserted so as to create an unroofed porch. There are two entrances in the side walls, but these only have such a framing slab on the far side.
The church's crowning design feature is its massive cuboidal tower, over the sanctuary. The sides are limestone screen walls again, but the front is a grid of small squares in concrete. The bells are hung in a rectangular cut-out in the parapet of the left hand side wall of this tower.
Interior[]
The interior is flat-roofed, with a sanctuary bounded by two parallel slab walls recalling the entrance arrangement. There are no windows in the walls, and the natural illumination is by a strip of skylights running along the roof next to each side wall. These widen as one approaches the sanctuary.
Liturgy[]
Church[]
Mass is celebrated, according to the Diocese (July 2018):
Weekdays 7:00 (8:00 in July and August), 18:30.
Sundays 8:30 (not July or August), 10:00, 11:30 (not July or August), 18:30.
Subsidiary Mass centres[]
The parish has three external Mass centres:
Madonna del Rosario a Via Laurentina
Santa Teresa del Bambin Gesù a Casal Fattoria